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By Nate Oxman
Trailing by six points with just under five minutes to play, a cutting Chris Allen took a slick feed from fellow senior Scott Shields and converted a pretty scoop layup.
Allen followed up the play with a steal, which led to a pair of free throws for the Central Bucks East senior guard, and then a defensive rebound which ultimately led to a three-point bucket by junior Steve Topley.
The quick 7-0 spurt gave the Patriots a 44-43 lead over visiting Central Bucks South and it appeared to be the momentum shift the hosts needed to lock up a Senior Night win over the rival Titans.
But, just like they did all night in key situations, the Titans squashed any hopes of a Senior Night comeback, as senior bruiser James Delgato corralled an offensive rebound and laid the ball in to put C.B. South back on top for good with three minutes, 27 seconds to play.
The bucket was the beginning of the Titans’ own 7-0 run that resulted in a 53-47 Suburban One Continental Conference win.
Delgato contributed 10 points in the win, but it was his 13 rebounds, eight of the offensive variety, which doomed the Patriots.
“Through the course of the game, we thought we put ourselves in position to come up with a win,” said Patriots coach Erik Henrysen. “Then we miss a check out and we don’t recover from there. It’s not just putting the ball in the basket. It’s staying mentally locked in for 32 minutes, and we’ve struggled with that over the course of the last week.”
A jittery first quarter by both teams led to a 10-10 tie with under a minute to play before Topley ignited the crowd with his first of three triples on the night to put the Patriots ahead 13-10. Their lead remained three at 18-15 after an offensive rebound and short jumper by junior forward Lou Pannella with 2:34 to play in the first half.
But the Titans answered right back with a three by senior guard Steve Schneider, who led all scorers with 17 points, to kick-start a 7-0 run that gave South a 22-18 halftime edge. The final bucket came courtesy of another offensive rebound and deuce by Delgato.
“He’s a beast,” said Titans coach Jason Campbell of Delgato. “He just gets after it. He has an urgency to get the ball. He doesn’t care who’s around him, even if it’s his teammates. If he wants it, he’s going to take it away from them.”
Allen opened the second half with a three-pointer and fellow senior guard D.J. Beausejour followed with a hoop to put East on top at 23-22 before the duo of Delgato and Schneider combined to score seven of the Titans next nine points, allowing them to open up a 33-26 advantage.
The East seniors fought back to tie the game at 34-34 with 27 seconds to play in the third quarter thanks to a triple by senior guard Eric Montanari, a three-point play via some hard work on the offensive glass from Shields, and another offensive rebound and bucket by senior forward Justin Van Houten.
It was an inspiring stretch from a determined group of seniors, but one that once again was matched by South as sophomore guard Chase Vander Schmalz knocked down a three with six seconds left in the third to start a 9-3 Titans spurt that led to the aforementioned 43-37 edge.
“I thought we put together a few good stretches, but it seems like every time we would get the ball within one or two we would either gamble for a steal and miss and they would get an extra step and hit a three or something,“ said Allen. “I feel like we were never really able to close the gap. We might have gotten ahead by one at one point, but we were never really able to get that one run to put us over the top.”
The Patriots did lead 44-43 after a Topley triple before Delgato responded with an offensive rebound and score, junior forward Matt Johns converted a deft drive to the basket, and Schneider drained a three from the top of the key to put the Titans up 50-44 with 2:00 to go.
Shields knocked down a turnaround jumper to trim the deficit to 50-46, but Beausejour’s driving layup with 47 seconds to play failed to fall and the Patriots were finished.
“Throughout the season there have been games where we’ve gotten that big bucket or gotten that big stop, but tonight we just didn’t put it all together,” said Beausejour, who led the Patriots with 10 points. “We didn’t get the bounces we needed.”
The loss dropped East to 9-9 overall, 6-6 in SOL Continental play entering a brutal final week where the team will play four games beginning with Wissahickon on Monday.
“Coach told us that basically these next five games we either needed to win all of them or win four out of five so we’re basically treating it as a must-win for every game,” said Allen, as the team tries to keep their district playoff hopes alive. “It was disappointing not to win tonight, but we have four games next week so we just have to have a good practice tomorrow and then come out and win on Monday against Wissahickon.”
Prior to the tip, the Patriots honored their six seniors: Beausejour, Allen, Montanari, Shields, Van Houten, and center Tim Hughes. All have been instrumental in improving upon last year’s 7-12 mark.
“They’ve been great,” said Henrysen. “I have six strong personalities and they have not always played every single minute of the game and I think their ability to say, ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to help this team,’ was really key during that stretch of seven wins in a row for us. I think that helped us a lot. Tonight they came out and set a tone for us.”
The win bumped C.B. South to 5-15 overall, 4-8 in SOL Continental play with two games remaining: at home vs. Hatboro-Horsham on Tuesday and at C.B. West on Friday.
“We have two games left,” said Campbell. “Our record doesn’t show the type of team we are. We’ve had a lot of close games that we just didn’t pull out. The one thing this team hasn’t done is quit on me. They still come ready to practice every day. They’re working toward getting a few more wins here for the seniors and making it a season that they’re going to remember.”
Central Bucks South 10 12 15 16--53
Central Bucks East 13 5 16 13--47
Central Bucks South (53)--John Staman 3 0-2 7; Steve Schneider 4 7-7 17; Chris Veal 0 2-2 2; James Delgato 4 2-3 10; Matt Johns 3 1-2 7; Dave Knox 2 0-0 4; John Flaherty 0 1-2 1; Kevin Raymond 0 0-1 0; Dan Eichorn 1 0-0 2; Paul Zakrewski 0 0-0 0; Chase Vander Schmalz 1 0-0 3. Totals 18 13-19 53.
Central Bucks East (47)--Allen 2 3-5 8; Montanari 2 1-2 6; Beausejour 4 1-2 10; Van Houten 2 1-2 5; Hughes 0 0-0 0; Shields 2 1-1 5; O’Neil 1 0-0 2; Topley 3 0-0 9; Stauffer 0 0-0 0; Gallagher 0 0-0 0; Pannella 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 7-12 47.
Three-point goals: Schneider 2; Staman; Topley 3, Beausejour, Montanari, Allen, Vander Schmalz
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